Depending on your age, you may have been in diapers when Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 1, Wild Metal, and Grand Theft Auto 2 came out. Or maybe you of age back then which means a) You are old and b) You have already played these games. Whatever the case may be, Rockstar is giving everyone the chance to re-live the past (or experience it for the first time) by giving away copies of Grand Theft Auto 1, Wild Metal, and Grand Theft Auto 2 for free!

Note to parents, guardians, etc.: These games are not for young kids.

Grand Theft Auto 1

In 1997, a band of developers that would come to be known as Rockstar North and Rockstar Games released the original Grand Theft Auto on an unsuspecting public. The groundbreaking non-linear urban crime game shook up a complacent game industry with its irreverent gameplay, humor and style – and a phenomenon was born.

To get Grand Theft Auto 1 for free, do the following:

Version being given out for free: It’s a game dummy — back then a new “version” was a new release

Supported OS: “Current Microsoft Windows platforms”

Note: Latest version of DirectX is required

Download size: 328 MB

Visit the promotion page, enter your age and e-mail address, and hit SUBMIT:

After hitting SUBMIT, accept the EULA:

Check the inbox of the e-mail address you entered. Look for an e-mail from donotreply@rockstargames.com with subject of Your Rockstar Classics Download Link. In the e-mail is a link you must click on to download GTA 1:

Once the download finishes, extract the contents of the ZIP file and install GTA 1 by double-clicking on GTAInstaller.exe. Follow on-screen instructions — it installs like any other normal program.

After installation, before you play GTA 1, go to Start Menu -> Programs -> Rockstar Games -> GTA and run GTA Settings. Follow on-screen instructions and input GTA settings. Click Save when ready and close GTA Settings.

Note: While in game tapping the F11 key will allow you to change screen resolution.

Note: If your game is choppy, tap the F8 key to turn off frame limiter.

Enjoy!

Wild Metal

Another vintage title from Rockstar North, then known as DMA Design, Wild Metal (1999) is a 3D strategic vehicular combat game set in a distant land, in which you command armed roving vehicles to disrupt dangerous automated military units that have overtaken the Tehric planetary system. While it flew under the mainstream radar when it was originally released, it was critically acclaimed for its unique yet intuitive control schemes and its massive open world to explore.

To get Wild Metal for free, do the following:

Version being given out for free: It’s a game dummy — back then a new “version” was a new release

Supported OS: “Current Microsoft Windows platforms”

Note: DirectX 8.1 or higher required

Download size: 170 MB

Visit the promotion page, enter your age and e-mail address, and hit SUBMIT:

After hitting SUBMIT, accept the EULA:

Check the inbox of the e-mail address you entered. Look for an e-mail from donotreply@rockstargames.com with subject of Your Rockstar Classics Download Link. In the e-mail is a link you must click on to download Wild Metal:

Once the download finishes, extract the contents of the ZIP file and install Wild Metal by double-clicking on WMInstaller.exe. Follow on-screen instructions — it installs like any other normal program.

After installation, before you play Wild Metal, go to Start Menu -> Programs -> Rockstar Games -> Wild Metal Country and run AutoDetect. In AutoDetect select your render engine from under Method of Graphics Display. Select Direct3D if your graphics card supports 3D acceleration (almost all modern computers do); otherwise select DirectDraw or whatever else appears in the drop-down menu. If you are unsure if your graphics card supports 3D acceleration or not, simply select Direct3D and if the game doesn’t work come back and change it. Hit Save when you are ready and close AutoDetect.

Done. Now you can start playing Wild Metal — look for Wild Metal Country in Start Menu -> Programs -> Rockstar Games -> Wild Metal Country.

Note: You can change the screen resolution by going to Options from within the game.

Enjoy!

Grand Theft Auto 2

In 1999, Rockstar Games and Rockstar North (then known as DMA Design) furthered the groundbreaking gameplay concepts established just two years prior in the original Grand Theft Auto – with the release of GTA2. GTA2 expanded on the top-down, open-ended crime world gameplay formula with a host of new features including the advent of multiple rival gangs – seven, to be exact, including the Yakuza, Scientists, Looneys, Rednecks, Zaibatsu, the Russian Mob and Hare Krishnas. Earn your respect with each gang. Reap the benefits with all manner of shady work-for-hire gigs contracted your way. And climb your way to the top of the criminal pile.

To get Grand Theft Auto 2 for free, do the following:

Version being given out for free: It’s a game dummy — back then a new “version” was a new release

Supported OS: “Current Microsoft Windows platforms”

Note: DirectX 8.1 or higher is required

Download size: 353 MB

Visit the promotion page, enter your age and e-mail address, and hit SUBMIT:

After hitting SUBMIT, accept the EULA:

Check the inbox of the e-mail address you entered. Look for an e-mail from donotreply@rockstargames.com with subject of Your Rockstar Classics Download Link. In the e-mail is a link you must click on to download GTA 2:

Once the download finishes, extract the contents of the ZIP file and install GTA 1 by double-clicking on GTA2.exe. Follow on-screen instructions — it installs like any other normal program.

If your game is choppy, tap the F8 key to turn off frame limiter.

After installation, before you play GTA 2, go to Start Menu -> Programs -> Rockstar Games -> GTA2 and run AutoDetect. In AutoDetect select your render engine from under Method of Graphics Display. Select Direct3D if your graphics card supports 3D acceleration (almost all modern computers do); otherwise select DirectDraw or whatever else appears in the drop-down menu. If you are unsure if your graphics card supports 3D acceleration or not, simply select Direct3D and if the game doesn’t work come back and change it. Hit Save when you are ready and close AutoDetect.

Done. Now you can start playing GTA 2 — look for GTA2 in Start Menu -> Programs -> Rockstar Games -> GTA2.

Note: You can change the screen resolution by going to Options from within the game.

Enjoy!

If you have trouble getting GTA 1, Wild Metal, or GTA 2 for free, post below and other dotTechies or I will try to help.

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About Ashraf

Happily married to the most beautiful woman ever, Ashraf is the founder of dotTech. Ashraf spends insane hours on dotTech (usually writing articles but sometimes doing absolutely nothing except staring). Yes he is weird, but he is also very friendly.

yea same for me too. Cannot download any of the games. Germany appears to be blocked too.

“Sorry, you cannot download this game. Please read our privacy policy for more info.” Do they expect me to read ALL THIS BULLSH*T?! Must be f*cking kidding me..

tsss.. why do they make people p*rate the game? They should know one can get hands on this stuff easily on other ways. Just wanted to try on the official way. tss..

Fred

I enter my data and submit it, page refreshes – nothing else happens. If i scroll down the page there´s the text i quoted. I tried different email-providers and tried different ages filled in – nothing helped. Maybe they use an IP-filter and don´t like my country. I read their long privacy terms and couldn´t find anything that explained why i cannot enter this giveaway. Any one got a direct link to the files?

Ashraf

@Denis Hands: I figured it is an old giveaway, but it is still valid today.

Boy am I disappointed – I started GTA2 and certainly expected a LOT MORE! Maybe I’m spoiled by the likes of Ghost RECON2 and Call of Duty – BUT – to see a little dot on the screen which needed to be directed to a “phone booth” (which the dot subsequently walked right through) and no mouse control ?? What a disappointment!! I can see why they are giving this away free – that’s about all it’s worth.

@Ashraf: Ok – I tried an alternate email address – (Hotmail) and the link in the return email worked for GTA2 – thanks Ashraf! I wonder why my original email address didn’t produce a valid link. I’m going to try to get the link for Wild Metal now. Again, thanks for the tip.

Robert

I knew about these freebies for quite a long time, but I forgot to download them. I still remember playing the original GTA on my Playstation (PS1), and I loved it so much I had to get the London Mission Pack as well as GTA 2. The thing I didn’t like about my PS GTA2 is that it had a Teen rating, and the Sega Dreamcast version had a Mature rating. It didn’t make sense to me, so playing it on the PC sounds like a lot of fun. I admit I never played Wild Metal before, and I do like Rockstar games so I figured I’d get all of them so I could play them on my laptop. I don’t think they included the London Mission Pack in this download, and if they didn’t I would love it if that was free as well.

All three were downloaded without any problems, and I am using Firefox 10.0.2

justnakenny

It’s downloading fine for me and I’m using FireFox 7

Denis Hands

This is an old giveaway, this has been avaliable since 2-3 years ago. Since then the website hasn’t been updated it seems!

Ashraf

@David: Odd. I don’t know why that is happening to you. Maybe try again with a different e-mail address?